The City of Ravens

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Storm Gull glided silently past the quiet wharves of the city, lanterns lighting the way at bow and stern. The hour was late; the docks, so crowded and busy during the day, were virtually abandoned. Not a single person could be seen in the halos of streetlights glowing through the soft rain. Jack wrapped a borrowed cloak closer to his body and considered whether it might not be better to leap into the water and swim for it. Icy eel-infested waters seemed a better proposition than continuing on his current course.

He looked around, furtively studying his captors. The Lady Mayor-no, Myrkyssa Jelan-stood at the helm of her sloop, guiding the boat confidently up the Fire River. Jelan had abandoned her pose of Lady Thoden as soon as she'd escorted Jack from the depths of Ill-Water and boarded her dark cutter. Beside her, the Shou mage Yu Wei stood stock still, engaged in some inner meditation that left his face even more expressionless and serene than usual. A half-dozen very capable-looking people rounded out the crew-Hathmar Blademark, a drow swordsman; a cold woman called Amarana, who wore the emblem of the night goddess Shar; and a short, powerful Tuigan in leather and iron, who introduced himself to Jack.

"I am called Tenghar," he had said. "I will kill you if the Warlord wishes it done."

Several others worked the boat's sails and sounded the waters as the sloop glided upstream.

"Kel Kelek! Take the helm!" Jelan waited while one of the other men, a tall and rangy Nar with a frightening pattern of facial tattoos, clambered back to take the ship's wheel. She tapped Yu Wei on the shoulder and then addressed Jack. "Master Ravenwild, if you would be so kind as to join me in my cabin?"

"I would be delighted, my dear," the rogue replied with false joviality.

No point in allowing her to see how nervous he was with this development. When Jelan had abducted him from prison in the guise of the Lady Mayor, he'd been anxious to leave regardless of the circumstances. Certainly, anything was better than death row. Now he suspected that the Warlord would make the cost of her generosity known to him.

"At least she is unlikely to simply silence me in some permanent means," he muttered. "That she could have done without removing me from my cell."

He followed the warrior and her sorcerous advisor down the narrow companionway and into the sloop's rear cabin. The Shou (no, Wa, Jack reminded himself) decor was unchanged, a delicate and spare arrangement of white screens and paper lanterns with a wide dark table of gleaming wood set at knee height so that one could sit on the floor and eat or work comfortably.

Illyth Fleetwood sat dejectedly on the floor. The girl looked up sharply as Jelan, Yu Wei, and Jack entered the room. "Oh, Jack!" she cried. "They've got you too!"

"You might say that," Jelan said with a small laugh. "Do not worry, Illyth. No harm will come to either Jack or yourself as long as Jack improves his behavior."

She was still dressed in the handsome dress and fillet of the Lady Mayor, but as she talked she undressed to reveal dark leather armor and steel beneath her robes. Jack recalled his brief flirtation with the Lady Mayor on the first night of the Game, amazed that he hadn't spotted the resemblance then, but the disguise was so skillfully done, including mannerisms and posture and voice, that it seemed that Elana-Jelan-the Lady Mayor were really three different women altogether.

"Extraordinary," Jack breathed. "The Hawk Knights comb the city for any sign of you, yet you stand in the very center of the city and direct their search."

"Who could expect it?" Jelan said. "But tonight the deception ends."

She unbuckled her sword belt, leaned the weapon against one wall, then knelt behind the table. Jelan indicated the opposite place with a tilt of her head. Jack sat down a little awkwardly, while Yu Wei took up station somewhere behind him, standing silently by the door. Illyth moved over to sit beside Jack.

"You are probably considering your escape already," Jelan began without preamble. "No matter. I only require your services for the next few hours, and if you do what I need you to do, I'll gladly let you go."

"I fail to understand why I am so important to you, my lady."

"For one thing, you agreed to hear her out, after you were warned that you should not do so unless you were prepared to accept what must follow," Yu Wei said. "We are not forgiving of broken promises."

"You retrieved me from Ill-Water to make me abide by my word?" Jack asked in amazement. "I didn't tell anyone that I had learned your identity. It was in my own best interests to keep your confidence."

Jelan smiled in a predatory manner. "I am not so forgetful of my obligations as you are, Jack." She began to let down the braids in her hair, shaking the rain from her dark tresses. She kept her gaze on Jack's eyes, refusing to allow him to look away. "Where I come from, that would be reason enough to justify the trouble I went to this evening, but, as it so happens, I do have a specific purpose in mind for you."

"You desire something else stolen, my lady?" Jack asked.

"Jack, have you ever studied to be a wizard?"

Jack leaned back, his brow furrowed. Illyth shifted uncomfortably beside him, but held her tongue. He could not see where this was going.

"No, not really. Anyone can work magic, simply through an act of will and a little practice. All those who purport to study wizardry have been pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. None of that mummery is required!"

Jelan looked up past Jack to Yu Wei. Jack craned his head to glance at the Warlord's wizard; the mage simply stood impassive, but his eyes were deep and thoughtful. He tugged at his white wisp of a beard and spoke.

"Consider this possibility, Ravenwild: for the great majority of people who seek to use magic, all that 'mummery' as you call it is required. But for certain special individuals-you, for instance-magic is something else entirely. Is that not every bit as likely as your assumption that there is a universal conspiracy subscribed to by every wizard on the face of the world?"

"Perhaps," Jack admitted, "but that would imply that I am something special or unique, and any theory that begins with such an assumption is usually a poor one."

"A wiser statement than I would have expected from you," the Shou said. He smiled in satisfaction.

"Jack, have you ever heard any tales of wildfire?" Jelan asked.

"My lady, I confess that I am at a complete loss as to the goal of this interrogation," Jack began. Jelan raised her hand, forestalling his argument, and simply waited for him to answer her question. He sighed and shrugged. "Well, of course I have. Some people say that once in a while a Ravenaar born and bred may exhibit the unusual reaction of lashing out with magic when threatened. It's always a person who has never wielded magic in his life, and it's said that the wildfire-wielder cannot control or summon his powers at will. It is an involuntary reaction to danger, noted no more than once or twice a year in the entire city."

Jack suddenly smiled and wagged his finger. "Ah, now I understand! You and your wizard here believe that my powers constitute a manifestation of wildfire! Well, I am sorry to say that you must be mistaken. I have full and voluntary control over my magic."

"Perhaps you are able to control your ability to an unprecedented degree," Yu Wei said. "Where do you think wildfire comes from, boy?"

Jack glared at him. "Who knows? Maybe it is something that only one person in a thousand anywhere can do."

"The phenomena has been observed only in Raven's Bluff, Jack," said Jelan. "Why here? Why is it that a small number of people living in this city are simply blessed with inexplicable magic? Something about Raven's Bluff instills magic in a small number of its citizens, apparently at random. And, in your case, the magic is quite versatile and strong."

"What does it all signify?" Illyth interrupted. "Where does this magic come from?"

"It comes from a device that I call the wild mythal," said Jelan. "Raven's Bluff is built on top of Sarbreen. Sarbreen was built on top of an older and deeper city, a drow stronghold thousands of years old. Here, in the deeps beneath us, the mightiest wizards of the drow once gathered to forge a mythal of their own, a font of power akin to those made by the most powerful elven wizards of centuries long past."

"A mythal?" Jack asked. He shook his head. "I don't understand."

"The mythals were the most powerful magics ever devised by the elven courts of old," Myth said, nodding. "At Myth Drannor, Evermeet, Calmaercor, and other places too, mythals were forged of elven high magic to serve the elven race. They guarded the elven realms against all harm and made possible works of wonder now forgotten."

"The dark elves did not overlook the potential of the mythal magic," Jelan added. "In their long war against the surface elves, the drow came to desire a similar device of their own, one with the power to bend or break the surface mythals. And so they toiled for many long years, forging their own mythal stone somewhere in the ancient city under Sarbreen, but their mythal failed. It gathered an enormous amount of magic, but it could not be tamed to their will. They abandoned the whole city, and the warped magic of their failed device has slowly seeped into the very earth and air and water of this place for centuries now. Raven's Bluff, by pure chance, was built upon a fountainhead of magic that is probably unique in all the world."

Jack looked at her with understanding. "That is why you raised your horde, my lady? To control the fountain-head of wildfire?"

Jelan nodded. "I had other reasons, too, but yes, that is the primary one. I intend for the wild mythal to be the keystone of my kingdom, a source of power that would make my conquest unassailable. There are dozens of cities in the Vast that might be easier to take or more easily pacified. Raven's Bluff, however, is unique in this regard, and the fools don't even know what they have."

"What of the Sarkonagael? Why did I steal it for you, if the wild mythal is your real target?"

"It contains spells that I needed Yu Wei to possess-"

"The shadow simulacra!" Jack interrupted. "You are the source of the shadow copies! Do you have any idea of the kind of trouble those constructs are causing in the city?"

The Warlord nodded. "A good idea, yes. You see, Jack, Raven's Bluff is also unusual in that it is home to a disproportionate number of powerful individuals: swordsmen of epic stature, knights of unsurpassed faithfulness and strength, mages and priests and other magic wielders of dire power. The city is a city of heroes, and while Hawk Knights and Wizard's Guilds and dozens of interfering bands of adventurers stand about keeping an eye open for trouble, I find it difficult to achieve my goals. Two years ago, my armies would have overrun the Ravenaar defenses with no trouble if it had not been for the heroes who flocked to the city's defense. This time, I have decided to strike at the heroes first. When the city's most powerful defenders are dead or discredited due to the actions of their simulacra, Raven's Bluff will fall with hardly a blow."

"I am perhaps more sentimental than I thought I was," Jack admitted, "since I find that I do not care for the idea of laying waste the city I grew up in."

"I do not intend to lay waste to the city, Jack. My quarrel lies against only a small fraction of the city's inhabitants, the handful of powerful nobles, guilders and so-called heroes who rule this place. When they are gone, I shall stay my hand. I have no interest in devastating the people I intend to rule wisely and well."

"Your horde of two years past indicates otherwise," Illyth remarked boldly. "Orcs, goblins, giants, and ogres, all eager to sack the city and carry off its population in their entirety. Your quarrel at that point would seem to include all within the city's walls."

The Warlord lost her composure for a moment. Her face, until this moment set in a faintly amused and indulgent smile, hardened into something sharper than a blade.

"Did you ever wonder," she said with acid, "why, two years past, the battle for Raven's Bluff turned when it did? I achieved my purpose without razing the city. When it suited me to do so, I allowed my army to be defeated. In fact, I contributed significantly to the security of my future conquest by bringing before its walls a generation of orc and ogre warriors, only to have them cut down in sight of their goal. It will be ten years at least before the tribes can muster another army like that one, and by then I intend to have made Raven's Bluff completely unassailable.

"Clearly, I succeeded in some goals and failed in others when I brought the horde against Raven's Bluff. That was a tool that was wieldy for the job at the time. Now I find that other, subtler tools are better suited to my purpose. And that is all you need to know."

"I still do not understand how I fit into your plans," Jack said.

"In three ways. First, I have taken you into my service. That in itself is sufficient. Second, I believe that through you I may take control of the wild mythal. Third, your talents are particularly well suited for some tasks I have ahead of me."

There was a knock at the door. The Nar swordsman-Kel Kelek-appeared in the doorway. "My lady, the landing is near."

"Excellent. I'll be up in a moment," Jelan said. She stood and buckled on her swordbelt again. "Jack, I am no fool. I have little reason to trust you, even though I believe it would be in your best interest to serve me willingly. I would have asked Yu Wei here simply to work a geas upon you, but he informs me that the results may be unpredictable given your talents, so I have resorted to a more simple security-Illyth. I have no wish to harm her without cause, but I will if I have to. Do not give me cause."

Jack frowned and carefully controlled his response. "I understand. I will cooperate, but you must promise that Illyth will not be harmed."

Illyth recoiled. "Jack, don't do it! Who knows what harm could come of her plots?"

"The Warlord honors her word to the letter," Jack admitted. "She will do exactly as she says. I don't have a choice."

"A wise decision." Jelan pulled leather gloves over her hands and strode past Jack, pushing her way past the Nar swordsman and climbing up the companionway. Then she turned on the stair, ducking a little to meet Jack's eyes. "Yu Wei recovered your weapons and magical devices from the prison's lockbox," she said. "Ready yourself for an expedition into Sarbreen."

The Warlord's party, Jack and Illyth included, entered the subterranean ruins of Sarbreen through a tunnel mouth excavated in the floor of an abandoned warehouse. The ancient dwarven city had few streets or thoroughfares. It was an endless series of chambers and halls and foundations, a lightless and directionless labyrinth that defied Jack's attempts to perceive the underlying symmetry. Smooth polished granite blocks covered the walls, almost untouched by the passage of seven hundred years since the city's destruction. Rainwater, run-off, and less pleasant waste dripped through the old dwarven hold from the human city above, turning some of the larger corridors into sewers.

"I've never been in this part of Sarbreen before," Jack said in a low voice to Jelan. "Where are we?"

"The Armory," the Warlord replied as they hurried through the darkness. "Many of Sarbreen's dwarves died in this place, defending the priceless weapons stored here from the pillaging horde of orcs and goblins. They died in vain."

At the end of the hall they passed through a great gate of wrought iron, sundered long ago by some terrible magic that peeled back the iron plate like soft putty. Dozens of moldering skeletons lay scattered nearby, along with a few scraps of rusted armor and the shards of broken weapons. Hathmar, the drow swordsman, led them onward through a number of small, winding passages that wandered between stone living chambers, rooms graced with shattered statues and tattered banners. "Living quarters of the weaponsmiths," the mercenary captain explained, "also looted long ago."

"Be careful, but hurry," warned Jelan. "We were followed from the Ladyrock, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawk Knights are on our trail. Keep your voices low, and be ready to douse our lights if we spot any light behind."

They came to several broad halls that had collapsed into rubble, with great rockfalls spilling out onto the floor from the walls and the ceiling. At one time the rooms must have been noble and majestic, each sixty or seventy yards in length and perhaps half that in breadth, but now they were cluttered with mounds of debris. In single file Jelan and her companions picked their way between the rockfalls, slipping and clattering over the wreckage.

"Revel halls," said Hathmar Blademark. "Take care, the Dragon Hall is close by."

At the far end of the collapsed halls they found a broad alcove or antechamber filled by a great dark well. A set of stone stairs wound down into the pit, circling around and around.

"Dim your light," said Jelan. "We do not want to advertise our presence to anything that might wait below."

Yu Wei complied, masking the glowing golden ball his magic had conjured. Then they groped down through the darkness, each with his or her hand on the shoulder of the person in front, the drow leading the way with his superior dark vision.

After several hundred steps they reached the bottom of the well and filed out into a high, sharply arched hall. The Tuigan and the Nar ran out ahead, weapons ready, but no dark-lurking monster waited; the vast chamber was empty.

"The Hall of the Dragon," Illyth whispered to Jack. "I never thought to see this place with my own eyes! It was the public meeting place of Sarbreen's guilders and masters, the seat of the city's government."

"I didn't realize you were so well versed in Sarbreen lore, dear Illyth," Jack replied.

"Fully half of the adventurers whose careers I studied explored Sarbreen at one time or another, and a number of them died in these depths. I suppose it just stuck with me."

Jack nodded, concealing his nervousness at the notion of people just like them meeting terrible dooms in these darkened dwarven halls, and turned his attention to the chamber itself. Dark galleries ran along the walls, providing room for hundreds of dwarves to watch the proceedings on the floor of the hall. Now nothing but a soft wind sighed through the high balconies. At the far end of the hall, a great stone dragon was carved in bas-relief forty feet tall. Its noble features grimaced in a terrible battle challenge.

"The Stone Dragon of Sarbreen!" Illyth breathed. "Jack, this is the stuff of legend! No one has seen this place in a hundred years and returned to tell the tale."

"That is not entirely true, my lady sage," Jelan said, sauntering closer. Yu Wei, Amarana, Hathmar, and the others stood guard warily, watching the numerous dark tunnel mouths that opened into the great chamber. "I myself have been here three times in the last six months in attempts to reach the Wild Mythal, but this barrier-" she gestured at the massive relief on the chamber's far wall-"has frustrated me every time. It is my hope that Jack can help me here."

Jack glanced up at the formidable structure. "I have no great skill at digging, but if you wish, I will take pickaxe in hand and do what I can."

"If only it were so easy," the Warlord said. "Beyond that wall lies a rift or passageway descending into the true underdark beneath the very deepest dwarven works. Yu Wei's divinations clearly show the way to the Wild Mythal, but to reach it we must pass through the doorway concealed in this wall. And that barrier has frustrated all the efforts of mighty wizards and priests both. It will not yield to me."

"But you, Jack Ravenwild, are a Ravenaar born and bred, infused with the chaotic energies of the device this barrier protects," Yu Wei intoned. "We believe you can open this passage."

Jack sighed and followed Jelan's gaze. He was inclined to allow the Warlord to stand frustrated before this wall until the end of time, but that was why Jelan had brought Illyth along. Clearly, this was not the time to challenge her.

"What do I have to do?"

"Come here," said Yu Wei.

The Shou wizard stood at the feet of the great image. The dragon was head-down, as if it had been frozen in the act of descending the wall. Serpentine coils and vast batlike wings shadowed the upper portions of the bas-relief, lost in the darkness high overhead, while the creature's fierce claws gripped a great orb ten feet across at the bottom, just beneath its open mouth and noble countenance.

"This sphere in the dragon's claws marks the doorway, but no opening spell at my command can part it, and more destructive spells are defeated outright."

"The wall is blank stone. What do you propose?"

The Shou scowled. "If you know an opening spell, attempt it. Perhaps the stone will accept your magic where it refused mine."

Jack shrugged and did as Yu Wei suggested. He stepped close and murmured the words to his passage spell, reaching out to caress the cold stone of the sphere-shaped surface. For a long moment he felt nothing. Then, abruptly, a streamer of emerald energy caressed him, dancing up from some wellspring far below his feet and winding left and right to stay in contact with him, no matter where he went. He gasped in shock and opened his eyes to look on the spiraling magic with his human vision. He saw nothing at first, although he could still feel it nearby. Then he realized that Yu Wei stared silently at something in front of them.

In the center of the stone sphere, beneath Jack's hand, a blot of darkness edged in green-glowing magic had appeared. Emerald energy whirled and darted around the aperture, which rapidly widened to fill the blank stone between the dragon's claws.

"Jack, you opened it!" said Illyth. She hugged her arms around her shoulders, excited despite the circumstances.

"Indeed," said Yu Wei. The wizened sorcerer turned to the Warlord. "My lady, we should make haste. The aperture may not remain open for long."

Jack simply gaped. He hadn't even finished the spell… or so he thought. Could he have cast a spell without even realizing it, simply by concentrating on the feel of magic from the floor beneath his feet? What else might happen if he tried to channel the power he could sense?

"Excellent!" said Myrkyssa Jelan.

She checked her arms and armor, then joined them by the doorway. The others in her party-drow swordsman, Shar priestess, Tuigan warrior, and the others-followed quickly. Jelan looked at Hathmar and inclined her head; without hesitation the drow ducked into the dark opening, scouting the path ahead. "Now we shall see what the dwarves chose to conceal."

"So where does it go?" Jack asked.

"Down to the deeps," Yu Wei answered. "My divinations show a-"

"Silence!" hissed Jelan. She pointed at the stairwell behind them. A flicker of yellow light danced on the walls. She doused her own light. "Everybody, through the door! Someone is following us!"

Jelan glanced at the dark doorway, then took Jack by the elbow and guided him toward a deep niche in the wall guarded by a mighty stone statue of an armored dwarf.

"Go ahead!" she told her mercenaries. "I want to see who follows, but we'll withdraw as soon as we know. Jack, you will stay silent or Illyth suffers."

Yu Wei and the others ducked through the archway in the shadows beneath the dragon claws, carrying Illyth away with them. At the rear of the hall, yellow light grew brighter, closer, in the circling stairwell descending from the halls above. A sudden clatter echoed from the antechamber, and the glimmer of light flickered and flared wildly. Jack leaned forward, watching carefully now. Footsteps clattered on the stairs above, followed by the ringing of steel and distant cries of distress. A voice cried out in pain, another shrieked words of magic, and then something inhuman roared in challenge, a deep-throated growl that echoed throughout the entire room.

Jelan snorted softly beside him. "Be ready to move when I command," she said. "Someone is about to bring their battle into our presence, and I deem it wise to abandon the vicinity before we are caught up in an argument that isn't ours.''

The archway in the opposite wall filled with yellow light and motion as several figures clattered down the last of the spiraling stairs in the antechamber and retreated out into the floor of the great hall. Marcus and Ashwillow, at the head of a handful of city soldiers, turned to face whatever it was that pursued them.

Out of the dark shaft in the adjoining chamber, six gray shapes suddenly dropped, with great leathery wings snapping out to break their plunge. They were about the size and shape of a man, but so heavy and powerful that the flagstones at the bottom of the shaft cracked under the impact of their descent. With roars of battle rage, the creatures surged out of the bottom of the well and assaulted the Hawk Knights and their soldiers.

Blades flashed and steel rang as the knight slashed out at his attackers. One recoiled, cradling a mangled arm and hissing in pain, but two others pummeled Marcus to the ground with blows powerful enough to powder stone. Ashwillow barked out a magical word and sent a jet of scorching blue flame into the middle of the pack. The creatures-some kind of gargoyles, Jack guessed-were driven back for a moment. Two soldiers seized Marcus by the arms and dragged him up, retreating from their assailants.

"That's enough," Jelan snarled. "Come on. We'll leave these fools to their fate."

Jack cringed. Marcus and Ashwillow certainly wished him no good and it might solve some problems later if they met their doom in Sarbreen today. Still he begrudged no one a chance to escape a grisly death at the claws of a flight of gargoyles.

Jack took one more look at the fight across the great room. The creatures had already recovered from Ashwillow's fiery attack, ignoring the patches of black, cracked hide that smoked across their broad backs and massive wings. With cries of rage, they took to the air, streaking across the vast space of the dwarven greathall like catapult stones in flight. The rogue ducked into the open passage and found a long tunnel lined with cool, smooth stone that gleamed in the reflected light. Yu Wei, Illyth, and the others waited thirty yards down the tunnel.

A moment later, Jelan darted into the passage behind Jack. "Move quickly," she called ahead. "We are pursued."

Three of the powerful gargoyles appeared in the darkness behind them, screeching with rage. They hurled themselves forward, crowding the small passageway and scrabbling past each other to reach Jelan first. The Warlord cast one cool glance over her shoulder and picked up her pace, keeping safely ahead of the flight. Jack decided to do the same. The passageway behind the sphere ran for almost a hundred yards, as straight as an arrow, before opening up on a tall, narrow cavern cleft by a great crevasse. The Warlord's party was trapped on a wide ledge, unable to flee any farther. Wind howled up from below, a roaring blast of air that rumbled and echoed in the cavern like the thunder of a nearby waterfall.

Illyth plucked at Jack's sleeve and pointed. "Look!" A round stone platform floated in midair in the center of the crevasse, level with the floor on which they stood. A wooden dock or landing extended out over the abyss to meet the edge of the stone platform.

Jack moved over to peer over the edge. As far as he could see, the crevasse plummeted down into the dark. He raised an arm to shield his eyes and blinked in astonishment.

"What is this place?" he shouted.

"The road to our goal," Jelan replied. She turned and drew her blade, preparing to defend the mouth of the passageway against the pursuing monsters. Tenghar and Hathmar joined her, forming a hedge of steel to seal the tunnel's exit. The gargoyles were almost upon them. "Yu Wei! Bar their passage!"

The Shou sorcerer inclined his head and raised his hands, muttering words and weaving his fingers. Golden flames suddenly exploded from the stone floor to fill the tunnel behind them, creating a sheet of leaping death that sealed the tunnel mouth completely. Jack could feel a small warmth on his face and hands, no stronger than sunlight on a clear day, but the heat must have been far more intense on the opposite side of the fire barrier; the gargoyles bayed in misery and retreated, shielding their faces with their great dark wings.

"The wall will hold them for a quarter hour!" Yu Wei cried. "After that, the monsters will be free to pass!"

"Well done," the Warlord said. "That will do for now. Turn your attention to the platform and determine how it operates. We will keep watch."

They waited a few minutes, buffeted by the winds, the scorching heat of the wizard's shield defending them from the gargoyles in the tunnel. Yu Wei muttered and mumbled, inspecting the floating platform.

At length he stepped back and said, "I believe I understand the device, Warlord, but it may be prudent to test it first in order to make sure that I have mastered the enchantment."

"I trust you implicitly, and we do not have much time," Jelan replied. She brushed by the sorcerer and jumped across to the stone platform as if she had absolute confidence in the precarious engine. It bobbed a little under her weight but remained stable. "Come on, then, everybody aboard. Jack, you stay close by me," she said. "I want you where I can keep an eye on you."

"I am completely trustworthy," Jack protested.

He followed Jelan and tried not to think about just how much of a drop might wait under his feet. He gave his hand to Illyth and helped her onto the platform, then moved aside to make room for the rest of Jelan's picked warriors.

"Nevertheless," Jelan said. "Trouble follows you like gulls following a fisherman's dory." She turned to face the rest of the party. "Keep your eyes open, friends. I am very concerned about what might or might not come up behind us in the dark."

Yu Wei stepped aboard last and carefully touched the heel of his staff to the old dwarven stone, speaking a word that Jack did not recognize. After a moment, the platform began to sink, dropping quickly and smoothly down the crevasse as the walls seemed to climb away from them.

The wind screamed like something flayed alive as they dropped into the darkness.

"Dungeon delving," mused Jack, "is an occupation for those unfortunate souls who have demonstrated that they are too stupid, ill-tempered, or incompetently noble to hold down any honest job."

He gazed out into the great vast darkness around him and shivered. For several minutes the stone platform had descended through empty air, as the crevasse had widened drastically hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of feet below its upper entrance. The walls were now well out of sight, and still they dropped. At least the platform hadn't yet taken them into any life-threatening peril, but that, of course, was no guarantee that it wouldn't at any moment. A cold, damp stream of air raked the open platform, hinting of vast subterranean spaces stretching away around them. The platform was a bubble of golden light, sinking into darkness like a coin dropped into a bottomless well.

"Surely recovering treasures long forgotten is better than outright theft and burglary?'' Illyth replied. "It's dangerous, but it's honest."

Jack stood close by her, holding her closely to keep her warm. Jelan had not provided Illyth with garb particularly suited for marching around in the frigid depths, and the noblewoman shivered constantly.

Jack shrugged and threw his cloak over her shoulders. "I'll trade risk for guilt any time," he said with a laugh.

Illyth's disapproving look stung him, and he fell silent. They gazed into the limitless dark, wondering when the descent would come to an end.

"Hathmar, what do you know of the depths beneath Sarbreen?" Jelan asked the drow swordsman. The Warlord did not take her eyes away from the wall of darkness around them, watching vigilantly for any sign of trouble. "Are there any monsters common to this region we should watch for? Hazardous conditions that might cause injury or death?"

"I have never walked these ways, Warlord," the drow said. "In Sarbreen's day, the region beneath the city was vigorously patrolled by the dwarven city above. If drow had lived here when Sarbreen was great, there would have been war. My people lived in the deep Underdark near this region, but they must have been long gone by the time of Sarbreen's founding. Certainly the Sarbreenaar never had any truck with them."

"Silence," hissed Yu Wei. "We've reached the bottom."

Around them long spires of rock now appeared at the edge of their bubble of light, gleaming wetly in the darkness and growing thicker and wider as they descended toward the giant stalagmites' unseen bases. Jack had the curious fear that the platform would settle on one of the rocky points and upend itself, but the makers of the ancient mechanism were not so careless; the platform came to rest on a square of polished granite with a soft grating sound. Jack hopped to the floor of the chamber and helped Illyth down; the others dismounted carefully, searching for any signs of danger.

"The gargoyles did not pursue us," Jelan said, looking up into the darkness. The Warlord frowned in concern. "They have wings. Why didn't they chase us down here?"

"Perhaps they have not yet broken through Yu Wei's wall," Amarana, the Shar priestess, said.

"Or perhaps they have no wish to be where we are now," Jack muttered. "It could be that they feared to follow you into the chasm."

"A cheerful thought," said Jelan. She shook herself and looked around the stone forest surrounding them. Great needles of stone rose into the darkness, as tall as the turrets of a castle. "Which way now?"

"According to my divinations, we should seek a lake of darkness," Yu Wei said. "We will find the wild mythal there." He consulted a small, dark orb held in his left hand and studied it for a moment. Then he pointed off into the darkness. "That way."

"Hathmar, you lead," said Jelan. "Amarana, would you join him? Your dark lady favors you with sight in places such as this. Yu Wei, Kel Kelek, follow them. Jack, you and I will stay close to Illyth. Tenghar, you and the rest cover the rear. And make sure you keep your eyes open."

With the drow and the Shar priestess in the lead and half a dozen swordsmen guarding their backs, they set off between the huge stalagmites, winding across an uneven floor of natural rock that surrounded the dwarven platform at the foot of the long descent. Jack offered Illyth an arm to steady herself and picked his way carefully across the damp stone. He could feel something now, even without closing his eyes or concentrating on it, a subtle tide that seemed to tug on his soul. It almost felt as if he were caught in an undertow, the race of water receding away from the shore to gather for a tremendous wave still unseen. And the power of the magic streaming past him resonated, recharged him, so that he felt full of power and skill and confidence. With every step he could sense his magical strength replenishing itself, a sensation he never experienced on the surface.

"I think we're getting close," he told Illyth. "I can feel something ahead of us, a very strong magic indeed. I don't think I've ever held this much power."

"The lake," called Blademark from the front, softly.

A moment later they all reached the shore. The water was oily and blacker than night, a great dark expanse whose farther shores might have been a hundred yards away or a hundred miles. Here, at least, the shore seemed to indicate a sizable body of water. Small waves lapped at the gravel strand, and a band of damp stones above the waterline hinted at a small tidal range. Left and right the shore was bare, marked only by boulder falls and rare pinnaclelike stalagmites rising up into the darkness.

"Are we supposed to swim from this point forward?" Jack asked.

"If necessary, I can arrange it," Yu Wei retorted. "We will do what must be done."

"Quiet," said Jelan. "Look." She pointed toward the center of the black lake. Out over the water, hundreds of yards beyond the limit of their vision, a green aurora danced. Emerald energy twisted in an ever-changing spiral, weird and ethereal. Jack felt each undulation as a tremor in his bones. "The wild mythal. That must be where it lies." She smiled and started forward-

— only to be abruptly lassoed by a slimy, brown tendril from the darkness to their right. Two more shot out, tangling her arms and wrapping several times around the Warlord's torso.

"Look out!" she cried. "Ropers!"

In the murk and shadows of a large fallen boulder, three dark, pulsing things shifted and gaped. Each looked like a stalagmite that had suddenly sprouted six long, thin tentacles. Jack caught a quick glimpse of bright teeth in their huge maws, and then more tentacles shot out, looping around Yu Wei, Amarana, and Jelan again.

Tenghar shouted a battle cry and leaped forward to hew at the tendrils binding the Warlord, only to be caught in turn by four more tendrils. He had the curious misfortune of being lassoed by two of the creatures at the same time, and between them the monsters were far stronger than him. The Tuigan was hauled off his feet and dragged toward the waiting fangs.

"Get off me!" he shrieked, flailing ineffectually with his tulwar.

His cries rose to a fevered pitch as he was dragged within reach of the ropers' maws. Something crunched in the darkness, and Tenghar abruptly stopped screaming.

"Merciful Oghma!" Illyth choked. "Those monsters-"

"I know," said Jack.

He looked around quickly. Jelan's warriors rushed forward to hack at the monsters. Yu Wei burned away one tendril, but two more seized him. Amarana fought to invoke her dark powers, but whipping tendrils spoiled her magic. The Warlord fought silently to keep from being dragged closer. She suddenly dropped flat and braced her feet against a ridge of rock, wedging herself in place. Calmly she released her sword and drew a dagger to begin sawing at the tendrils binding her.

"Kel Kelek! Hathmar! Aid Yu Wei and Amarana! The rest of you, slay those things!"

Jack saw his opportunity. Every one of the Warlord's followers was engaged by the ropers. He took Illyth's hand and quickly worked the spell of shadow-jumping, moving several hundred yards into the darkness and broken rock of the cavern floor. One moment they stood in a circle of yellow light, caught in the middle of a furious battle against monstrous predators; the next, he and Illyth stood alone in the darkness, listening to the sounds of a far-off battle.

Illyth recoiled in panic and cried out. Jack quickly caught her hand again.

"Shhhh," he said quietly. "We're safe. I took the opportunity of the ropers' attack to abandon the Warlord's expedition."

The girl panted in the darkness nearby. Her breathing slowed after a dozen heartbeats, and her hand stopped shaking. "I understand," she whispered back. "Jack, they'll come for us as soon as they finish with those-things."

"They might," he admitted, "but we will be hard to find. And it may be that Jelan has no further use for us and does not wish to spend the time tracking us down."

Illyth fell silent for a moment. Her hand gripped his tightly. "Jack," she said, "Could you please make some light? I don't like this."

"It's not wise, Illyth. Even a glimmer might be seen from a long way, and remaining inconspicuous is our best defense at the moment."

"I know, but… what if something like those ropers, or worse, is waiting out here in the darkness?"

Jack shivered despite himself. "Very unlikely," he lied. He looked around, and noted a faint glow of green in the distance. "Look, over there. I suspect that the mythal lies in that direction, and the lakeshore as well. We will head in that direction and then backtrack toward the stone platform from there. I'll have you out of here in an hour or two, and you'll have an adventure of your very own to write about in your journals."

"Are we going to abandon the wild mythal to the Warlord?"

"Illyth, what else are we supposed to do? She's leading a dozen extremely skillful and ruthless mercenaries, including a very powerful mage and a couple of top rank swordsmen. And Jelan herself is quite competent, too. There's only the two of us. Our best move is to get out of the way and hope that she doesn't find what she's looking for down here."

"Still, I feel that we ought to be doing something," Illyth protested.

"We'll notify the proper authorities the moment we get out of Sarbreen," Jack promised. "Now take my hand, and try to be quiet. We should keep moving."

Jack and Illyth spent the better part of an hour picking their way carefully through the darkness, listening for any signs of pursuit by the Warlord's party-or the telltale sounds of some abominable monstrosity native to the Underdark preparing to make them its next meal.

Although he knew it might be dangerous, Jack relented and created just a tiny glimmer of light, no brighter than candle flame, and used his magic to send it dancing ahead of them, illuminating dimly their path. Fortunately, they encountered nothing more dangerous than strange-looking lichens and odd, spikelike fungi sprouting from beneath heavy round boulders, and even then Jack gave the subterranean growths a wide berth.

The sounds of battle from the Warlord's encounter with the ropers had long since died away, but not before a pair of thunderclaps and a blast of searing white flame had blasted through the darkness hundreds of feet away. Jack decided that the wizardry probably meant that Jelan's party had eventually bested their attackers, since ropers weren't known to use lightning bolts to finish off their prey. The question was, what had the Warlord decided next? Had she ordered a search for Jack and Illyth, or had she continued on toward her goal?

"Jack, look. I think that stalagmite looks familiar." Illyth broke his train of thought, tugging on his sleeve and pointing. A towering peak the size of a castle turret rose above them, vanishing into the darkness. "The stone platform came to rest nearby."

"Illyth, we've passed a dozen just like in the last hour," Jack said. "How do you know?"

"I have a good sense of direction," the noblewoman replied. "I think we're near the platform."

Jack was inclined to argue the point, since he had been unsuccessfully trying to find that very spot for most of the last hour by navigating across the dark, featureless cavern floor, but he decided to indulge her. "All right, but let's be careful. Jelan may be lying in wait for us here, since she knows that this is our route back to the surface. I'll render us invisible as a precaution; keep hold of my cloak, or we'll never find each other again!"

Illyth agreed with a nod, and Jack worked the spells. The magic came swiftly and easily to him, another sign that the wild mythal was nearby. In the darkness, it was hard to tell if anything had changed or not, but Illyth clung tightly to the hem of his cloak.

"This way," she said.

Jack allowed Illyth to take the lead and followed her around the huge rock spire. At first he thought she'd missed her guess, but the square level came into view as they rounded a shoulder of the rock.

The platform was missing.

"Oh, dear," said Illyth. She shivered and pulled closer. "How are we supposed to get back up to the top again?"

"It might be a blessing in disguise, when you consider that the chamber above might be filled with angry gargoyles," Jack mused. "Of course, I have no idea how we can get back home otherwise." He looked up into the darkness overhead, trying to guess how far they'd descended on the levitating platform. A small globe of yellow light hovered far above, sinking toward them as Jack watched. He nudged Illyth and pointed before remembering that he was invisible and his arm could not be seen. "Look up. The platform's coming back down, and someone with light is riding it."

"The Hawk Knights?"

"It could be. I doubt that the Warlord has had time to return here, ascend, and start to descend again. Let's find a good place of concealment and await their arrival. If nothing else, we need to use the platform when the current riders are done with it."

Jack drew her back a little ways behind the rock, and they settled down to wait. The platform descended quickly, dropping hundreds of feet in no more than two or three minutes. It slowed and stopped soundlessly atop the square plaza in precisely the same manner as before.

Five figures stood atop the stone, encased in a dome of blinding light: Zandria, the Red Wizard; Marcus and Ashwillow, Knights of the Hawk; and the thieves Anders and Tharzon, knights of the post. Jack blinked in surprise.

"This is an unexpected alignment, to say the least," he muttered.

"I recognize the two Knights of the Hawk," Illyth whispered. "They're the ones who arrested you at the Blue Lord's theatre. And I saw the Red Wizard at your trial, but who are the other two, and what are they all doing here? Are they friend or foe?"

Jack realized that he honestly could not answer the question. Not only did he not know, he didn't even have a good guess. Marcus and Ashwillow would arrest him on sight. Zandria's reaction might be anything. And with Anders and Tharzon, it all depended on how much they resented his shadow-twin's humiliating assaults. But… even if all five wanted him dead on the spot, they had no quarrel with Illyth and might be counted upon to get the noblewoman out of the Underdark and back where she belonged.

"We will present ourselves and hope for the best," he told Illyth.

Before she could ask another question, Jack stepped out from behind the rock and dropped his spell of invisibility. "Good day, gentle persons," he called. "I must confess I am glad to see you all!"

All five whirled to face him, weapons ready. It was clear that they'd seen no little fighting recently, and their reactions were almost comical. Jack was careful not to smile. He gestured toward Illyth and then approached the light. Anders seemed relieved to see him, but Tharzon scowled darkly. The dwarf was clean-shaven, the first time Jack had ever seen him thus. Marcus and Ashwillow advanced on him, weapons drawn; Jack decided to blunt their attack before it began.

"If you are looking for the Warlord Myrkyssa Jelan, she is not here. We had a falling out, and she proceeded without us. But I can show you where she went, and I am afraid she is up to no small mischief."

Marcus wasted no time. "Where is she?" he demanded.

Jack pointed toward the dim green haze, far off in the darkness. "A short march from here you'll find a subterranean sea, and the Warlord somewhere out on or under its dark waters." He looked over the two knights again, noting the furrows gouged in their steel cuirasses and the various bruises and cuts covering their features. "Last I saw, you led a detachment of Ravenaar soldiers. Where are your men?"

"Dead or dying," Marcus growled. "Your mistress led us into an infernal ambush. You've much to answer for, street rat." He advanced again, blade weaving.

"Hold, Marcus," called Zandria. "Many people wish Jack dead, but that does not mean you are free to kill him." The wizardess stepped forward, intervening. "We have more important things to do."

"Indeed," Jack said. He turned to Anders and Tharzon. "Good friends, what brings you here, and in this company?"

Tharzon growled something unintelligible. Anders shrugged. "I'd thought I might break into Ill-Water and extricate you from your predicament, mostly because I believe you still owe me quite a large sum of money. And Tharzon agreed to help, so that he could kill you with his own hands instead of allowing the city to deprive him of his rightful vengeance. While it's true that Tharzon and I still hadn't resolved the question of what to do with you when we got you out, we both agreed that the first step was to remove you from Ill-Water. We rowed out in a black-painted dory and were about to commence our rescue when the Storm Gull appeared, and the Lady Mayor ordered your release. So we followed, hoping that we'd find it easier to free you from a small party surrounding the Lady Mayor. Then she led us straight into the darkest depths of Sarbreen."

"You truly intended to free me? After the misery my shadow wrought on both of you?" Jack found his heart swelling with pride. "What wretched thieves! Any cutthroat worth his salt would have let me swing!"

"Your untimely death would have left too many mysteries unresolved," Anders finished.

"If it turns out you weren't responsible for the incident on Manycoins Way," Tharzon added in a low rumble, "Anders convinced me that it might be possible that you can tell me who was responsible. I live to settle that account, Jack."

Jack turned to Zandria. "So I can explain to my satisfaction the presence of Marcus, Ashwillow, Anders, and Tharzon," he said amicably, "but I don't understand how you come to be here, dear Zandria."

"Three reasons," she said brusquely, "the ring, the dagger, and the death of Brunn at the hands of your simulacrum. Tempting as it is to blame you for the last, I know better. Whoever made that shadow of you bears responsibility for its actions. Like your fellow cutthroats, I intended to remove you from Ill-Water so that I could recover my property and discover the identity of your enemy. I followed the Lady Mayor as well, until I encountered these two ruffians and accosted them. We compared notes and resolved to join forces for the moment. Later, in the chamber of the stone dragon, we encountered the Hawk Knights here and struck a deal with them as well." She crossed her arms, eyes blazing.

"And, you rescued me from the burning tavern when you might easily have left me to die. Consider the debt repaid."

Illyth spoke up from her place by Jack's side, revealing herself. "So, what do we do now?"

Five hostile stares turned on her. "We have what we came for," Anders remarked. "We've found Jack. The sooner out of this place, the better."

"Unlikely, barbarian!" Marcus snapped. "I am taking Ravenwild into custody. He is staying right where I can see him, and I am not going back to the surface until I've caught the Warlord as well."

"I believe that we all have more important business here than bringing me to trial," Jack said. "You said it yourself, Marcus-the Warlord is down here, too, and she is much more noteworthy a felon than I."

Marcus scowled. "What of it? The accusations against you demand our attention." He advanced on Jack, sword ready. "Ash, watch the ruffians. We'll sort this out when we have him in custody."

"No one is taking anyone into custody!" Zandria raised her hand and created a flash of light to seize attention. "While we stand here arguing, the Warlord comes closer to reaching her goal."

"Stand down, Sir Marcus," Illyth said. "The Red Wizard speaks the truth. Regardless of Jack's guilt or innocence, the Warlord's plans proceed. You should concern yourself with matters of justice after we have addressed matters of the city's survival."

The two Hawk Knights exchanged dark looks but did not refute Illyth's point. "Agreed," said Ashwillow, speaking for both. "Stopping the Warlord's designs takes precedence, but I cannot make any promises about what happens when we return to the city."

Jack bowed. "Then may I suggest that we resume our quest? If you'll follow Illyth and me, well show you which way the Warlord went."

Moving swiftly, they set off across the cavern floor, nervously scanning the darkness around them. They walked a couple of hundred yards and came to the cold lakeshore, where three dead lightning-blasted ropers marked the scene of Jelan's battle against the monsters.

The green spiral of energy out over the water was even stronger, more distinct, than before, a twisting emerald strand weaving slowly back and forth. Jack could hardly take his eyes from it; the others were awestruck as well.

"I think the wild mythal lies beneath that," Illyth said quietly. "That's where Jelan and her henchmen went."

"So how do we reach it?" said Tharzon. "That must be five hundred yards, at least, and this water will be icy cold."

"Swim or sail," Anders replied. "Flying would work too, I suppose. Given those options, perhaps we should look around for anything that might serve as a raft."

"You omitted an option," Zandria said.

The mage stepped into the water and waded out until it was knee deep, reaching down to stir her staff in the blackness. She muttered a few words and gestured, working a spell. Instantly the water in a large circle around her changed in texture, color, filling with streams of bubbles.

"We can walk. I have cast a spell to render the water in this circle breathable. If you stay close to me and remain within its bounds, you will be able to breathe with no trouble at all."

Tharzon balked. "I'll pass, thanks. My father didn't raise me to walk on the bottoms of lakes."

"It is perfectly safe," Zandria said.

"Then I will not concern myself on your behalf," Tharzon replied. "You can go ahead without me, but I am not walking into that lake."

Marcus sighed and sheathed his sword. He waded into the water beside Zandria and motioned to Ashwillow and Anders.

"Come on," he said. "If we stand here trying to argue a dwarf into doing something he doesn't want to do, we'll be here all day. The Warlord is still ahead of us."

The Hawk Knight and the Northman shrugged and waded in as well. Jack joined them a moment later, Illyth following behind them. Tharzon remained on the shore. Jack turned back and waved at him.

"Better to stick together," he said. "Who knows what might be lurking out there in the cavern?"

"Who knows what might be lurking in that lake?" Tharzon grumbled, but the dwarf winced and walked into the cold waters, axe held high over his head.

Jack nodded and turned toward the lake. Zandria waded deeper, the circle of changed water following her. The water was bitterly cold, and he still felt as if he stood waist deep in any normal lake, but he had confidence in Zandria's magic. He followed her, and when the water rose to his neck, he ducked under and tried a very cautious breath. The changed water felt strange and cold in his mouth and throat, dense and humid, but it was indeed breathable.

"Not pleasant, but tolerable," he said aloud, and he was surprised to hear his voice echoing in his ears as if he'd spoken more or less normally.

With one last look at the cold stone-strewn shore, Jack turned back into the lake and allowed the waters to close over his head entirely.

They marched across the bottom of the lake floor for a strange, indeterminate time, chilled and wet despite the airy water that encased them. The lake was virtually lifeless, the ground beneath their feet smooth and weedless gravel only marked by an occasional haze of algae or detritus. The buoyancy of their bodies imparted a very long, bouncing stride to each of them, carrying them through comically awkward steps. It seemed to Jack that they moved through some kind of dark and sinister dream world.

It soon became obvious that maintaining a straight course to the center of the subterranean lake would be next to impossible. Marcus halted in indecision, unable to tell whether he marched straight toward the gyre of energy that was visible from the lakeshore or not. Jack could feel the tug of the mythal so strongly that he doubted he could walk in any other direction, even if he wanted to. He moved up and took the lead, guiding the others across the rocky bottom toward the unseen font of magic ahead. Jack trudged on for a time, and then he saw a dim glow ahead through the darkness, a bubble of green light on the lake floor ahead.

"Douse our light, Zandria," he called through the strange medium. "There is something up ahead."

The mage complied without a word, leaving them in blackness so complete that Jack had to repress his body's natural rebellion at being in the cold, lightless wet. But with their light's absence, the light ahead grew stronger. Jack led the others toward the other light, and as they drew closer it became clear that an emerald column glimmered from the lake bottom up to the unseen surface overhead, surrounded by a wall of water that streamed sluggishly around it. In fact, Jack could feel the tug of the current crossing their small circle. He advanced closer, halting only when they were a few feet from the perpendicular wall ahead. The circling current was so strong that Jack and his companions had to use their hands to steady themselves on the rocks of the bottom in order to keep from being pulled out of Zandria's circle.

On the other side of the glassy wall, Jack could dimly see a stone platform on the floor of the lake, surmounted by a massive stone pillar thirty or forty feet in height and at least ten feet thick at the base. The surface was far out of sight above, easily a hundred feet at this point, but the weak maelstrom circling the stone on the lake floor left a channel of air all the way to the surface, a gleaming emerald shaft that glistened with reflected light.

"The mythal," Jack said. The water carried away his words.

Zandria tapped his shoulder and pointed to one side. There, ten figures surrounded the wild mythal, distorted and dim behind the swirling water wall. Jack could not distinguish anything other than the largest details in any of them-relative height, whether they wore light or dark clothing, where they stood in relation to each other.

"The Warlord and her men," Zandria cried. "What now?"

"Can we breach the wall of the maelstrom?" Marcus called.

"The spell of airy water will not prevent it, but it depends on what magic holds the water at bay," Zandria said. "The only way to know for certain would be to try."

"We must be virtually invisible to them," Anders said. "They would see nothing but a wall of black water from their side. We can take them unawares."

"You mean to attack?" Jack asked.

"That is why we came down here," Zandria said, "to foil the Warlord's plans and to bring her to justice. Can you think of any other way to accomplish those ends?"

Jack took the question seriously and thought hard. They were seven against ten, and one of them was not a combatant-Illyth would have no place on a battlefield. But they would possess the advantage of surprise, which counted for a lot, and ultimately, Zandria was right. They'd come here to stop the Warlord. Myrkyssa Jelan would undoubtedly resist. That meant that he had to prepare for a fight.

"No," he admitted. "We will have to hit them hard and fast while we have surprise. Yu Wei is a very dangerous wizard-he is an old Shou who wears yellow robes. Make sure we hit him first!"

Marcus drew his sword, a bizarre motion in the water. He lowered his visor. "On the count of three, we will all try the barrier together. All of us through, or none of us. One… two… three!"

With the others, Jack scrambled forward and threw himself at the bright wall ahead, unsure of what to expect. It yielded before him, distending inward, and then he burst into open air in a spray of water and mist. He stumbled and went to all fours, then scrambled to his feet and ran forward to get clear of the maelstrom's walls. Beside him, Illyth stumbled, while Marcus plowed through the barrier like a bright knife slicing through a sheet of wax paper.

Jelan and her followers whirled to confront the threat, goggling with astonishment. In the open air Jack could hear the wild mythal throbbing and crackling, an aura of emerald motes dancing around the device in an endless coruscation. The floor beneath his feet was cool tile, inlaid in an exotic spiraling design that circled the colossal stone in the center. He ignored it and worked his force globe spell, hurling two potent spheres at the Shar priestess, as she offered the most convenient target.

"Beware, Jelan!" he called. "I have returned!"

To his amazement, the spheres flew from his fingertips and tripled in size, fed by the streaming emerald energy dancing around the mythal. Amarana managed to dodge one, which blasted a mercenary swordsman with the impact of a giant's hammer, but the other blew her legs out from under her. The mail-clad priestess screeched and hit the tiled floor hard, her legs badly broken by the force of Jack's spell. The mythal, he realized. Its magic powers are my own!

Then one of Jelan's followers stabbed at him with an evil gout of black flame that twisted to follow Jack despite his efforts to evade the sorcerous fire. The searing heat and crackling energy contorted his limbs and crumpled Jack to the ground, but now the battle was joined all around him. Zandria hurled a bolt of brilliant lightning straight at Yu Wei. The Shou sorcerer screamed as the white energy illuminated him like a living pillar and then channeled through his incandescent body to strike at the mercenaries who were unfortunate enough to stand near by, linking them all in a bright and deadly pinion of energy. Marcus dashed at Jelan, who had somehow eluded the fire and the lightning, but from the knight's left, a mercenary captain raced forward, forcing Marcus to break off his attack and meet his instead. They circled in a flurry of hard-struck blows, swords ringing in the damp air.

The lightning chain flickered to nothing. Jack blinked the afterimages from his eyes, trying to get his bearings, and looked up just in time to see Yu Wei crumple to the ground, a burnt husk. Three of Jelan's swordsmen fell with him. Heartened, Jack struggled to his feet and rejoined the fray. To the left, Marcus and the captain continued their duel. On the right, Anders fought for his life against the blindingly fast drow swordsman Hathmar Blademark. Zandria traded spells with the Nar warlock Kel Kelek, parrying his spells with counterspells of her own. The tattooed warrior screamed with frustration and abandoned his attempts to breach her defenses, rushing the red-haired mage with his long sword. He crashed into her and knocked her to the stone floor, struggling to bring his sword to bear.

Jelan! Jack realized. Where is she? He searched the battlefield for the Warlord and spotted her pacing deliberately toward the wild mythal, moving strangely.

"Illyth, help Zandria!" he cried, and then he ran straight for the mythal stone.

He made it within ten feet before something kicked his feet out from under him. An invisible force repelled him from the stone, spinning him to the floor. Jack looked up just as Tharzon rebounded from the same transparent barrier he had struck.

"Moradin's beard! What is this?" the dwarf groaned.

Jack turned, expecting an attack from Jelan-but the Warlord simply ignored him with nothing more than a quick glance of appraisal. Jack rolled over and stood up, trying to determine why she hadn't run him through as he lay helpless on the floor. Then his eyes fell on the spiral pattern that surrounded the base of the drow mythal.

A faint, emerald glimmer surrounded the mythal at a range of twenty feet or so, rising in delicate sheets like a mirror maze made of green diamond dust suspended in the air. Jack stood just inside the outer barrier. Tharzon scrambled to his feet only an arm's length on the other side. The dwarf tried to step through, but the magical field repelled him again.

"Damnation! I can't move through!" Tharzon cursed in anger.

"It seems that I can," Jack replied. "You help the others. I'll see what I can do about Jelan." He turned back to the Warlord.

Jelan carefully approached the stone itself, glancing over her shoulder to keep an eye on the battle. She spotted him and smiled in a warlike fashion.

"Stand back," she commanded. "I bear you no particular malice, Jack, but I will not tolerate interference!"

Jack frowned. Jelan was a very skilled swordswoman, and he was hesitant to resort to force. But no one else in his party would be able to come to his aid for some time yet; the skirmish still raged outside the emerald field.

"If you'll tell me what you are doing, I might decide that I have no reason to obstruct you!" he called, hoping to distract her.

"Ending a curse," she replied, "and mastering this stone."

The former didn't seem too bad, but Jack didn't like the implications of the latter. He steeled himself for a fight and stepped toward her.

"Not if I can help it, dear Elana," Jack said. He summoned up a green spiral of energy, vibrant and powerful, and lashed out at her.

The bolt crackled across her torso and did not affect her in the least. Jelan smiled sweetly.

"Magic cannot touch me, Jack. You'll have to do better than that!" Then she danced away around the stone, circling away from him. The shimmering energy seemed denser, more substantial, the closer he moved to the stone pillar. Clearly, it wasn't a matter of walking up and manipulating the device; one had to carefully negotiate the fields of chaotic energy wreathing the wild mythal.

"What happens when she reaches the stone?" Jack muttered to himself.

He had a suspicion that he did not want to find out. He resumed his pursuit, slipping toward the stone as fast as he could while trying to keep Jelan in sight.

Outside, the impetus of his companions' attack had stalled. Anders and Marcus were matched by swordsmen every bit as skillful as they were, if not more so. Zandria and Illyth struggled against Kel Kelek. Ashwillow worked spell and blade against three of Jelan's picked swordsmen, determined fighters who sought to corner her and cut her down. She halted two of them with a spell that rooted them to the spot, holding them in place through the force of her will, but the third swordsman reached her and slashed her across the torso. Ashwillow cried out and fell, curled around her wound, as the swordsman looked around for his next opponent.

Tharzon crashed into the man who'd struck down Ashwillow and knocked him to the floor. With one hand he slapped the swordsman's helmet from his head, and with the other he split the fellow's skull with his axe. The dwarf picked himself up, just as Hathmar wounded Anders and drove the barbarian to one knee with a series of blinding slashes.

"Hold on, Anders! I am coming!" Tharzon called.

Jack returned his attention to Jelan and moved closer, completing a circuit of the mythal stone three and a half laps behind Jelan. He turned the corner and suddenly found that she had halted, facing a smooth flat patch that marked one side of the stone. She'd reached the center, and he was only ten or twelve feet behind her. Jack circled carefully, warily, nearer. He was almost in sword reach, and it wouldn't help anything if he allowed her to gut him just as he caught her. I need to distract her, he decided.

"Jelan! Your lieutenants and swordsmen are defeated! You have no hope of victory. I call on you to surrender!"

Jelan glanced over her shoulder at him, measured the distance from the mythal face to the spot he currently occupied, and smiled. "Your friends have the upper hand," she admitted, "but my soldiers are still fighting. I see no need to give in yet." She turned back to the mythal.

Jack scowled. He plucked the poignard from his belt and threw it at her, but the repelling force that protected the mythal from his approach also defeated missiles. The dagger clattered to the ground only a foot from where it had left his hand. Jelan did not even take notice. Instead, she faced the stone and seemed to raise her hands in supplication, closing her eyes and stretching as if she could embrace the colossal pillar if she tried hard enough.

"Whatever it is you're attempting to do, you are out of time," Jack promised darkly.

He spared the battle outside another look. With Tharzon's aid Anders fought his way to his feet again, blood streaming from several wounds. The powerful Northman beat aside the drow captain's attack and rammed forward breast-to-breast with the mercenary, shoving Hathmar back toward the wall of water surrounding the stone. Feathers of white water streaked away from the drow as he breached the barrier, and then Anders hammered him all the way through, losing his balance as the maelstrom swept away Hathmar. He drifted back into the black depths of the lake, caught in the current and swept back from air and life. Helplessly, the drow vanished into the dark depths.

Anders spotted Jack and Jelan and dashed straight at them, only to encounter the same barrier that restricted Jack. He rebounded and went down hard.

"I have an argument with you, Warlord!" he cried.

"So?" Jelan laughed. "You, too, are not in time." She completed whatever ritual or preparation she had performed, and then slashed open the palm of her left hand with a dagger. Then she pressed her bloody hand to the cold, dark stone.

With a detonation that tossed Jack, Blacktree, and everyone else nearby to the ground, the wild mythal exploded with emerald energy. Whips of green power flailed against the water, the stone, the darkness above with the fury of wildcats, sizzling and snapping. The maelstrom's eye blasted apart in a spray of cold water and reformed fifty yards wider than it had been, hammered backward by the power pouring from the mythal stone. And in the center of it all, Jelan arched and screamed with ecstasy and delight as the energy poured into her body, filling her, dancing across her skin like fire.

"I have done it!" she cried.

Done what? Jack wondered as he picked himself up and staggered to his feet. The magic streamed into Jelan as if she were a bottomless well, drinking and drinking without reaching satiation. Dully he noticed that the tile paths were now marked by walls of emerald force, the invisible barrier now visible and unbreakable, completely encapsulating him with the Warlord and the wild mythal. Magic now ran from his body to the stone, draining from his soul as blood might drain from slashed wrists. Moment by moment he felt it slipping away from him.

"Elana," he coughed. "What have you done?"

"For ten generations my family has suffered," she cried triumphantly. "Once we were mighty sorcerers, born to wield magic, the most powerful of all Kara-Tur. Then our magic was stripped from us by a divine curse! Now, at last, I have undone that wrong! We will be sorcerers again, one with the Weave, strong in the Art! It is in my blood!"

"You wrecked Raven's Bluff for this?" Jack asked in amazement.

Magic buffeted him, ruffled his hair and clothing, howled around him like a demon, but he could not sense it. He only felt its effects, and the ache in his heart, the sense of something missing, was unbearable.

"This is my restitution," she shouted. Energy wreathed her dark hair like a crown of emeralds. "My penance! And my triumph! I have freed my bloodline of the antimagic curse, and I have claimed the first city of my empire. I am bound no longer!"

"What of the mythal?" Jack cried. "You are destroying it!"

"I am taming it," Jelan replied. "Within its domain, I am the arbiter of all magic, I am magic. My kingdom will be unassailable!"

"Who gave you the right?" Jack demanded. "We have no need of an overlord. We do not desire a tyrant to decide who may use magic and who may not. You broke your curse-good! You have righted an ancient wrong, but you have no legitimacy here, no claim to rule Raven's Bluff!"

Jelan met his eyes evenly. "I do not ask for the right, Jack Ravenwild. I take it! I once offered you a chance to serve me. This is your last opportunity to reconsider your answer. Will you swear allegiance to me, serve me as one of the rulers of this city? Or would you rather remain a street rat for the rest of your days?"

Jack studied her face. He could see death waiting in her eyes if he answered wrong. He glanced behind him, where Illyth, Anders, Tharzon, and Zandria waited and watched, hemmed out by the green fields of magic. All of Jelan's lieutenants and swordsmen were down, as were the Hawk Knights. I didn't even see the end of the battle, Jack thought to himself. What happened?

"Well?" Jelan demanded.

Jack's allies were silent. Perhaps they'd already tried to make themselves heard through the wall of power surrounding the stone and failed; they simply watched him now, their expressions unreadable. Hope, despair, anger, compassion-it didn't matter what they wanted. It was up to him. He turned back to Jelan and smiled.

"I decline," he said.

Jelan raised her hand and struck him with a bolt of icy green lightning. Jack howled in pain and collapsed in a seizure of pain, arms and legs flailing against the stone. He bit his tongue hard. Blood filled his mouth. After an eternity of pain, the seizure relaxed, and he moaned aloud. Awkwardly, he turned himself over and levered himself to his hands and knees.

"Your spells lack subtlety," he gasped, pushing to his feet. He picked up his rapier and advanced on her.

The Warlord stepped away from the stone and drew her own sword. "Blades, then," she said.

Without hesitation she darted forward and slashed high at his head, a graceful and deadly arc that would have decapitated him with ease if he hadn't thrown himself to the ground to duck beneath it. Jack managed to get the point of his rapier up fast enough to back her off a step when she moved to finish him on the ground. Then he scrambled sideways until he gained his feet again.

The Warlord laughed and came at him again, offering him no chance to rest. She slashed and whirled like a dancer with a baton, impossibly swift and skillful. Jack deflected her blade from his heart by a lucky parry, blocked another by retreating behind a corner of the mythal stone, and then took a long, shallow cut along his ribs as he barely twisted away from a thrust that would have impaled him at the navel. He gasped in pain and backed away again. Already his limbs trembled with fatigue. I can't beat her, he realized. In a minute, maybe two, I'll slip or miss a parry and she'll run me through, and that will be it.

"You are not much of a swordsman, Jack," Jelan said. "You might have been a good one, with some training. You've got good reflexes and an excellent eye, but you're not there yet."

"I'll work on that right after you kill me," he snapped.

Angrily, he called upon the power of the stone ring and felt new strength flood into his limbs, toughness imbue his flesh. Fueled by the ring's power, he counterattacked with everything he had, thrusting and riposting and lunging. Jelan simply laughed again and danced back, using graceful turns of her blade to deflect his stone-strength attacks. Jack overextended, dropping to one knee to reach her, and she slapped the rapier out of his hand with a wicked cut that would have laid open his right forearm if not for the ring's defensive enchantment. Jack cried out, stung, and staggered back.

"You've made a lot of poor choices recently," Jelan said. The smile faded from her face, replaced by something cold and deadly. "Time to face the consequences, Jack." She stalked closer, the tip of her sword unwavering.

Jack reached for his belt to draw his poignard, futile as it was. But he'd already thrown the weapon at her; the scabbard was empty. The dwarven knife! he remembered. As quick as thought, he stooped to his boot and threw the knife with a wicked underhanded motion using all his marvelous skill and the strength of the enchanted ring.

Jelan almost dodged the throw, twisting her torso with speed a cat would have envied and raising her sword point to deflect the dark knife. She wasn't quite fast enough. The dark blade took her on the left side of the torso, just under her breast, and pierced her fine armor as if it didn't exist. Myrkyssa Jelan grunted in pain and surprise, shuddering, and reached up to grip the knife handle.

"A treacherous blow," she gasped. "Hard struck… but not enough, not now."

Blood running through her fingers turned to green fire as mythal magic played over her wound. Jelan's mastery of the mythal permitted her to draw on the stone's magic to seal her injury and preserve her life.

"Mask's eyes," muttered Jack. "She's unbeatable." He had to do something unexpected, something extraordinary.

Impelled by desperation, Jack took advantage of Jelan's distraction and raised his left hand. The stone ring glowed with power as he willed it to life, this time calling on the impossible, seeking to shape the mythal itself. The mythal stone shrieked energy as the ring's magic fought to change it. Jelan must have felt the change through her connection with the device. She whirled and stared at the stone, trying to gauge its effects on her sorcery.

Jack threw himself forward and pushed her into the mythal stone. At the last moment Jelan sensed her danger and started to turn; cold steel kissed Jack's ribs as she struck out at him. But his momentum was enough to carry him into her, and she staggered back into the wild mythal itself. He sprawled to the ground at the foot of the stone, as the Warlord vanished into the rune-carved rock like a drowning woman sinking beneath black water.

Jack released the ring's power and allowed the stone to heal itself around her.

In an instant, the space Jelan occupied refilled with rock. He caught one last glimpse of Jelan as the stone walled shut, and then she was gone in a green flash of energy. Thunder shook the entire column, and the aurora scoured him like the blast of a furnace. The rings of energy barring access to the stone fell like curtains of water as Jack slumped to his knees, hand jammed against the cold dull ache under his rib cage. Then the maelstrom itself began to waver and collapse, the mythal's magic no longer sufficient to sustain it.

"Jack!" cried Illyth from a great distance. He turned to look behind him; the noblewoman and the others sprinted toward him, even as water began to cascade from above and darkness swirled up from below. He thought that Zandria was trying to work a spell-and then the dark waters swallowed him entirely.